Night of The Living Dead - Textual Analysis - George Myers

By GEORGE MYERS

Night of the Living Dead is a classic zombie horror film released on October 1^st, 1968. It was written and directed by zombie flick legend, George A. Romero. It’s clear to see that this films intended audience is adults and essentially anyone over the age of 18 seeing as it’s a zombie horror film, stereotypically meaning it’s going to be full of blood, gore and strong language. Also, for its time way back in the 60’s, age ratings on films were a lot stricter than they are today. The institution behind this film is ‘Image Ten’.

The opening sequence for this film is roughly 2-3 minutes long and within this introductory sequence we are just introduced to 2 characters, one being male, the other, female; both seemingly middle-aged.

The costumes used are fairly basic and don’t give too much away concerning the rest of the film. The male character is wearing what seems to be your average black and white suit, the female, seemingly basic casual 60’s wear.

In terms of the voice work, just for the introduction there isn’t any. This can be argued to create a tenser atmosphere as the audience is required to create their own perception of what is going on and this can be a technique used to engage the audience successfully.

As for the soundtrack, the musical score used in this introductory piece of filming is very unique. The introductory music piece is orchestrated and is a rather sharp piece of music; it’s very tense. It’s obvious that the electronically created music used today was not available back then, so orchestrated pieces was the way to go. However, it’s also widely considered that orchestrated music has the best effect for building suspense and tension in a horror film.

The cut rate in this introduction is fairly average. The amounts of cuts are fairly consistent and each cut is roughly the same length as the previous.

Concerning the camera work, some very effective shots and angles are used in the opening sequence. We see the car travelling along to what seems to be a grave yard and its journey is the entirety of the introductory sequence. The camera never rises above the subject or lowers below the subject. It neither pans nor tracks the subject. The camera is fixed at the subject’s level and the camera is positioned along the cuts at various different angles throughout the cars journey. The use of the long shot and wide shot and often used during this sequence.

The mise-en-scene in this sequence is very y chilling and defines everything the horror film stands for. The deserted, isolated forest and graveyard setting is has a very high scare value, and may make the viewer feel uncomfortable and even vulnerable. The music is orchestrated, sharp, tense and eerily slow paced. This just builds up the suspense and really makes the viewer, especially me, want to see the rest of the film; the ultimate purpose of any film introductory scene, regardless of genre.

The text used in this sequence is very basic. We are only exposed to the basic introductory credits, such as the director, writer, cast etc. and all of which are presented in a bold white font.

This is my textual analysis of Night of The Living Dead.